Site Map,
Search
If you really want information on the Interior of Alaska or Fairbanks, try
this link instead!
(Best viewed with
Microsoft Internet Explorer)

Ed. Note: This underscore's the importance of keeping a positive attitude
when campaigning. ITA is opposed to emotional negative campaigning unsupported by facts,
although we do believe it is a positive thing to get out facts supported by documentation.

IS THIS HOW THEY REWARD A KINDNESS?

This afternoon, as I drove to a friend's house in the
Riverview area to put up a Pete Kelly yard sign he had requested, I noticed that one of
his neighbors had a Hank Hove yard sign.

I also noticed that it had been vandalized. Someone had apparently attempted to yank
the sign off the stake, and had succeeded only in unfastening one side of the sign and
messing it up pretty badly. Not so badly that one couldn't tell at a glance that it was a
Hove sign, but pretty badly.

Having my staple gun with me, I decided on an impulse to do what I could to restore the
sign to a better semblance of original condition. The side of the sign that had come loose
was reinforced with an old "on strike" picket sign, and apparently the
installers had used short staples that couldn't go all the way through the double-sheet of
plastic and still grip the wood properly. My gun has nice, long staples, so I had no
problem securing the sign better than before.

Having done what I could, short of replacing the sign completely (for which I lacked
the materials), I returned to my original chore of installing my friend's Pete Kelly sign.
My nice, long staples punched so deeply through the stake I had brought, that I could see
tiny, twin bumps in the surface of the other side of the sign -- where the business ends
of the staples started to emerge.

Now that's workmanship.

As I was busy at this chore, the resident of the home where I had repaired the Hank
Hove sign pulled out of his driveway and drove off after giving me and my Kelly sign a
gimlet-eyed stare. I decided he was merely surprised that someone working for the other
side would actually try to *repair* his sign, let alone refrain from finishing the
vandalism.

Little did I know.

Many hours later as I returned home, I found that my own campaign signs -- three of
them, one for Pete, one for Mike Prax, and one for Royce Chapman -- had been knocked down.
The stake for one of the signs was actually broken off, and there was evidence the same
had been attempted on the other two.

The night before, I had learned that the borough's illicit thought police had been at
large, *invading private property* to damage or steal Pete Kelly signs. And we're not just
talking yard signs here -- at 17-Mile Chena Hot Springs Road, a BIG sign was actually
stolen from private property. Not just taken down, as DOT might have done had the sign
been too close to the road, but taken away where the landowner couldn't find it again.

It was with this information in mind that I had given in to my impulse to repair the
Hove sign over by Riverview. If a few SS wanabe's choose to be thuggish and try to silence
political speech with which they disagree, that's their problem. There's no need for
people who don't support Hank Hove to sink to the level of those who do.

Yet after having been seen performing a simple act of common courtesy and decency, I
come home to find my signs torn down. Would I repair that Hove sign again? Yes.

If I wanted to make the borough more polarized and hateful, I wouldn't be supporting
Pete Kelly in the first place.

The views expressed herein are entirely those of the
author(s), and do not reflect those of any person or group with whom the author(s) may be
affiliated, unless explicitly labeled as doing so.

ITA disclaimer: Editorials by various
authors in our guest section have been reprinted for your information and entertainment.
The authors are not necessarily members, nor do they necessarily agree with the
philosophy, aims, or endorsements of the Interior Taxpayers' Association.

Candidate endorsements on
this Web Site are not authorized, paid for, nor approved by any candidate. ITA,
as a non-profit organization, does not give money to candidates. ITA is solely
responsible for the content of everything appearing on these pages unless
otherwise noted. We believe in the truth and are proud of our research. We stand
ready to back up anything we say here, with the originating documents if
necessary. However, we will not be responsible for inaccuracies found in other's
documentation.